29.09.2022 – Stenella in the Name

Most of our summer tours are filled with lovely encounters with Atlantic Spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis). Their curious and playful manner makes up for one of the most memorable sightings we have, usually breaching towards our boats and accompanying us along the coast.

The genus Stenella holds in total five different oceanic species, of which not all show such a curious behaviour. The second of two Stenella species we are able to observe around Macaronesia are the Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) which usually show a very different and mostly evasive manner. Todays nevertheless, they showed themselves in their best light and let us observe them from close distance. Besides those two Stenellas, in our morning Ribeira Brava tour, we managed to observe a pod of Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhyncus), that is in fact the second largest dolphin of all, exceeded in size only by the Orca. Many dolphin species earned their Name as a Whale through their large size and appearance.

By Paulina Kalita

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Atlantic Spotted dolphins, Striped dolphin, Short-finned pilot whales

15:00 Short-finned pilot whales